The Delta Museum and Archives Society recently launched Our Delta Stories, a project that asks community members to share their favourite Delta story in 250 words or less. The stories will be posted to the society’s social media pages and website, while some will also be printed in the Optimist. This story comes from Gary Cullen, who has lived in Tsawwassen for 51 years and is a member of the Delta Museum and Archives board of trustees.
What is the most southwesterly retail business in continental Canada? Do you know the answer? It’s a neighbourhood store that has been in operation for 87 years in Tsawwassen.
The original Tsawwassen Beach Store, located at 130 English Bluff Rd. near 1st Avenue, was built by William Graham in 1930. Graham purchased 80 acres of forest lots from the Kirkland family in the late 1920s for $1,400. Graham’s land ran between what is now 1st and 2nd avenues, from Tsawwassen Beach east to what is now the west border of Diefenbaker Park.
Graham’s plan was to develop his large parcel of land into two-acre lots for summer cottages along Summer and Autumn avenues (now 1st and 2nd avenues). To help attract buyers to his properties Graham felt it necessary to build a small grocery store close by. The area also attracted summer campers. There were enough people to support a small store with customers coming from all parts of sparsely populated Tsawwassen.
Graham sold the store to the Olson brothers of Canoe Pass, who in turn sold it to Norman Pearson who operated it until 1950. Pearson, a First World War veteran, lived alone in the home that was built onto the back of the store. He was a rather serious fellow and he would warn people that he had a gun under the counter in case anyone dared rob him. It was mounted so he could shoot right through the wooden counter. He was not afraid to show the gun to customers, children included.
In 1950 Pearson sold the store to the Egans. A year later, at the age of 71, he was found dead in the municipal gravel pit (now Diefenbaker Park) of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. After finding his body, the police searched his home on Summer Avenue and found he had left out drinks and cigarettes for the officers.
After the Egans, the store was owned by Mr. Chunick in the early 1970s, Helen McGloin (and ran by Larry Neily) in the late 1970s early ’80s, Bill and Sylvia So in the 1980s and early ’90s, Krishan and Renu Singla from the mid-1990s until present. In 2004, the family replaced the old structure with a new building.
The new Tsawwassen Beach Store will likely continue to supply the southwest corner of continental Canada with everyday grocery needs for decades to come.
